Shoe for truss-frames



UNITED sTATEs PATENT orme n. ooMINs, or TROY, New YORK.

SHOE FOR TRUSS-FRAMES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 16,579, dated February10, 1857; Ressued February 28, 1865, No. 1,884.

To all whom it' may concern:

Be it known that I, REUBEN COMINS, of Troy, in the county of Rensselaerand State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement inMetal Shoes for Truss- Frames of Bridges, &c.; and I do hereby declarethat-the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1, is a side elevation of a truss framehaving my improved shoes applied to it. Fig. 2, is a verticallongitudinal section of a portion of the same. Fig. 3, is a transversevertical section of the same. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on anenlarged scale of my improved shoe in the line a: in Figs. 2 and 3. Fig.5 is a similar section Vof the socket, used with old style of block,instead of the shoe.

Similar letters of reference in each of the several figures indicatecorresponding parts.

This invention relates particularly to that description of shoe which atthe part where the braces rest is of an inverted T, or angular, orcurved form,-which shoe with my improvement, is far preferable to theold block with socket.

The nature of my invention consists in furnishing said shoe with twoprojecting plates on its underside which in their horizontal section areof T, form, said plates passing through the stringers on each side ofthe vertical rods and thus forming an opening or jaws for the verticalrods to pass between; and extending down from the surface of the shoe,which rests upon the stringers, to the nuts and washers upon theunderside of the stringers.

This shoe as may be evident diers from all others in use by not havingits projecting plates surround the rods-and is therefore better for thepurpose employed, as'it takes up less room in passing through thestringere and affords equal if not greater strength wit-h less weight ofmetal which advantages are very essential in a very heavy bridge as willbe presently shown.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invent-ion I willproceed'to describe its construct-ion and operation.

A, A, representthe stringers of the truss frame. B, B, the diagonalbraces, and C, C,

the vertical screw rods-all of the usual construction.

D, is a metal shoe; it is similar in construction at the part where theangular ends of the braces B, B, rest, to shoes in use, but differs fromthe same as follows: E, E, are two metal plates projecting down from thebottom of the shoe to the bottom of the stringers. These plat-es are ofT, form and form an opening or jaws for the vertical rod C to passbetween them as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4. The ends of the plates E,E, rest against a washer F, which is confined in place by a nut on theend of the screw rod C. The object in having the projecting plates thuson the shoes is that of removing the crushing weight of the diagonalbraces from the stringers and having it come directly upon the shoe androd, which object as may be evident is perfectly secured and allliability of the stringers being crushed or broken at that point wherethe thrust and strain are the greatest avoided. Thus removing the strainfrom the stringers however I do not consider my invention except whenthe projection plates are formed on shoes which are of inverted T, orangular, or curved form and used in connection with the vertical screwrods, as shown in Figs. 2 and 6 of the drawing, but what I do considermy invention7 and of importance is having the projecting plates of T,form and arranged so as to form jaws for the screw rods C, C, to passbetween, instead of using a socket of the description shown in Fig. 5.

By having the plates thus form jaws for the bolt, instead of using asocket the necessity of cutting away so much of the wood to apply themto the stringers is avoided, also the stringere can be brought closertogether, as will be seen by comparing Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawing,which is quite essential in constructing a bridge; and likewise isavoided the great disadvantage and eXA pense of having the devices whichintervene to prevent the crushing of the stringers, so.

heavy-and if desirable the eXtra metal which is uselessly employed informing the socket, thrown into the metal projecting plates in a mannerto increase their strength.

It may be obvious to anyone well skilled in the building of bridges that-in a large bridge the weight of metal in the sockets becomes a matterof serious consideration. l form, said plates passing through thestring- And further that by cutting away the timber to apply the socketsthe stringers are weakened at the point where they should be thestrongest and thus .the durability of the truss frame impaired.

/Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is-Furnishing that description of shoe which at the part where the bracesrest is of an in Verted T, or annular, or curved form, with twoprojecting plates on its underside which, in their horizontal section,are of T,

ers on each side of the vertical rods and thus forming an opening orjaws for the Vertical rods to pass between, and extending down from thesurface of the shoe, which rests upon the stringers, to the nuts andwashers upon the underside of the stringers,-sub stantially as and forthe purpose set forth.

REUBEN COMINS.

Witnesses R. W. FENWICK, J. M. MAY.

[FIRST PRINTED 1912.]

